Go scuba diving… Being type 1 makes this task not of a high possibility for me to do… It’s rude.

Swim amongst some dolphins and then collect one and name him flipper… Haha… Kidding…. But if a flipper wanted to befriend me I would not turn him away.

Get a tattoo… I already completed this… To which one of my brothers called me a “trash bag” ….I come from a loving family.

Fly first class… Already did this too… It was glorious!!! Hard to go back to coach with the regular joe schmoes after that, but alas… I’m poor.

See a cure for type 1 diabetes in my lifetime.

I made my list in 2008. At that time seeing a cure for Type 1 seemed like a hopeless endeavor… it still does at times. Today I got a package in the mail from JDRF wanting me to participate in one of their walks this year. I was looking through the pamphlet and the things I read gave me mucho hope for the future. They gave a list of things that they are researching that would make my life sooooo much easier.

Artificial pancreas… this would be a closed loop type of thing that expands on the pump I currently have only it would include a CGM that checks my blood sugar and gives me insulin accordingly instead of me manually having to do it. Basically it would become a robot and take control of me. It might even give me orders and I‘d have to obey it because robots may take over the world someday and I’ll be ahead of everyone because I would already be part robot. Don’t worry though… I’ll put in a good word for some of you.

There is JDRF funded research being done on a new therapy to help with diabetes related vision loss. Losing your vision is a worry amongst the T1D community. So far my eyes have showed no signs of Diabetes retinopathy… I know this for fact because I just got my eyes dilated and became a demon for a few hours while the eye doctor looked into my black eyes.

Encapsulation – There is some sort of encapsulated cell therapies being researched that could recreate beta cells that would produce insulin that could last in your body for up to 2 years… say whhhhaaaatttt????? Cool.

Smart Insulin – Insuln that you’d only have to take once a day and it would “turn off and on” accordingly to the sugar in your blood stream. Sweeeettt!!!

Potential Biological Cure for T1D!!!! This one involves restoring your actual beta cells. I think of them currently floating in my body as shriveled up dead things and the cure would be a helium type thing that inflates them into a beautiful balloon bouquet floating around bring joy to all the other cells in my body. This is in no way how would actually work, but it is what my imagination chooses to believe.

Prevention – A vaccine that could help prevent the progression of T1D for those at risk .

All these things bring me great hope and could not be done with out the funds they receive for research. The walks that JDRF does all over the country has helped to raise more than $1 billion. $1 billion!!! That’s insane. If I had a billion dollars… I’d save all the T1D’s and animals in the world!!!

On Oct. 5 I’m going to walk in St. Louis for myself and other T1Ds like myself. I’d like people to join me, but I’m not going to ask because I don’t want to put anyone on the spot…. So I’ll most likely be walking by myself…. Such is life. Feel free to donate to me though… that’d be real swell. Here is the link… You can re-read this post if you want to see all the WONDERFUL things JDRF is doing for T1Ds like myself!